By: Erin Sterling

Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn't use her magic this way, but with only an "orchard hayride" scented candle on hand, she isn't worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.

That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town's ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town's ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.

Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it's too late.

This book was recommended by countless folks online. Hailed as a fun, sexy, witchy, Halloween read sure to leave me crying in laughter, I lost not time in making this my Book of the Month Club choice, eager to dig in and read this holiday rom-com. 

What I wanted was a fun, lighthearted, romance book with a touch of the supernatural. What I got was a cringe-worthy, smutty, high school-ish story that was so bad, I couldn't finish. 

Overall, the concept overall sounded fun. I instantly fell in love with the town of Graves Glenand the whole concept of hexing a former lover seemed hilarious. Anyone who's ever been through a breakup of any kind wishes they had the kind of magic to bestow something unfortunate on their ex. As someone who is (happily) divorced, I would have given almost anything for a magic wand and a grimoire filled with spells to cast those most hapless of circumstances on my ex-husband. 

But that was after 10 years of marriage. It's hard to imagine being that upset after only a 3 month snog fest. So, right off the bat, I was a little confused as to why Vivienne was so heartbroken as to cast a curse. And with a Bath and Body Works candle, no less. Then NINE YEARS LATER, Rhys comes back to town and she's all undone again? And so is he? I just couldn't buy it. It made no sense. And there was no chemistry at all between Rhys and Vivi. 

The overuse of certain female anatomy had me cringing. Gwen's obsession with sex was very high-schoolish and not worthy at all of someone who is supposed to be in her late twenties. Rhys acting clueless 100% of the time was more than I could take. I got about 40% through the book and had to DNF it. I couldn't go on anymore. And that was after I survived the magic cave of instant arousal which was just high school. 

I wanted to like this book. The overall concept hooked me. Unfortunately, that's where this ended. It was too immature, too high school and too cringy for me. 

⭐